The sun had set. Beneath the dappled shadows cast by the leaves, two young Leaf ninja clad in wooden armor sparred against each other. Off to one side, a middle-aged male ninja and a third youth sat together, watching, commenting on, and learning from the two before them.
They were the four teachers and students of Team 40. Zuo Wei was currently fighting, and his injuries had already healed well. Nearly half a month had passed since his battle with Hashimoto Yasunari. Rituo showed no signs of anything being wrong, but to be safe, Mirai still forbade him from fighting intensely. Only when Rituo could not beat his stubborn son would Mirai let him spar with the other two teammates, scratching his itch and working his muscles.
Since Chi Jingyou had discovered the existence of Haki, he had not pursued the matter further. He no longer cared about Mirai's unusual abilities, so Steel Skin and Armament Haki were openly used in his battles against Zuo Wei. Of course, Causality Reversal still did not dare to attack a partner.
As a result, Zuo Wei was getting thoroughly beaten. Although his weapon gave him a tremendous advantage—after all, a longsword was far superior to a kunai—it still could not overcome such freakish defense. At first, he had to struggle just to cut through skin as tough as steel. Even with the aid of Armament Haki, unless he pushed his chakra to its limit and slashed with all his strength, he could not even break Mirai's skin.
What kind of overbearing defense was this?
The competition had been Mirai's idea during this special period. After Mirai's overwhelming advantage had been proven, he immediately adjusted and refined the rules. The old format, where a match ended when one side surrendered, was replaced by a